School lunch boxes rated: Would your kids’ lunches pass the healthy test?

THINK you’re packing a healthy lunch for your kids? A nutritionist put seven random school lunch boxes to the test.

Grade six students enjoying lunch at Mill Park Heights Primary. Picture: Sarah Matray

SCHOOL lunches are a mixed bag despite the healthy-eating push, with some parents given a fail mark for packing a nutritionist’s nightmare.

A random analysis of seven lunch boxes at a suburban primary school found fresh fruit was a menu staple, but prepackaged items were in oversupply.

Nude food policies discouraging wrapping, healthier canteens and soft drink bans are among schools’ artillery in the fight against childhood obesity.

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE HOW THE LUNCHES RATED

But teachers say there’s only so much they can control. The rest is up to parents.

Sports medicine expert Dr Peter Larkins said he wanted to see all students taught how to read labels and analyse the nutritional content of their lunches.

“Speaking as a parent as well with kids, their primary school has a good attitude to health and sport,” he said.

“They get educated on what they bring in, and high-sugar and high-fat foods, how many carbohydrates there are. They are learning this at a younger age.”

Mill Park Heights Primary principal Deborah Patterson said she had given two canteen providers marching orders for too much junk food.

Teachers were increasingly educating students about healthy-eating choices in class, offering bottled water instead of soft drinks at school sausage sizzles and enforcing a policy to reduce processed foods and wrappers.

But she admitted it wasn’t always adhered to by parents, as evidenced by the Herald Sun’s lunch box survey.

“You can promote, promote, promote, but at the end of the day, you don’t have a right to say to a parent, ‘No I don’t want this’.”

She has put parents on notice when they have sent kids off with only bags of chips.

“We see children coming with no lunch and cover them with sandwiches and fruit out of our student welfare fund. But when they send their children to school with just chips, I’ll ring the parents.”

Dietitians Association of Australia spokeswoman Kate DiPrima conducted the lunch box survey, checking they met four food groups: protein, dairy, fresh fruit and a “healthy” baked good.

She said it was a simple list for parents to use to ensure they provided a balanced, ­nutritious meal.

“We don’t want people to think ­dietitians are being all bah humbug, you can’t have this, you can’t have that,” she said.

“But children have sugar and soft drinks coming at them from all angles ... they don’t need to be in the lunch box.”

HOW SEVEN RANDOM LUNCHES RATED

Dietitian Kate DiPrima has marked the lunch boxes out of 4 based on whether they have:

— An iron rich protein-based ‘main meal’ like a tuna sandwich or ham wrap

— A calcium-rich dairy item like yoghurt

— A piece of fresh fruit, preferably with the skin on

— A ‘healthy homebake’ like a wholemeal banana muffin which also helps teach kids how to cook

4/4: This is great — even wholemeal bread. There’s a cheese stick, the orange has some peel on. Again with the size, ask your child if the lunch is filling them up.

1.75/4: If it was homemade pizza, it would be better but it does have a bit of meat on it. The fresh fruit is good, then it goes downhill.

3.9/4: This is very close, it’s just missing the healthy homebake. The alternative is crackers and the prepackaged item is rubbish.

1.5/4: The bacon-and-cheese roll will give some protein but it would be better if there was salad in it. Big tick for the apple, but there’s too many processed foods.

2.5/4: The big thing that’s missing in the main meal, and they are doubling up with pretzels and biscuits.

3/4: It’s nearly there but just needs some protein like a hard-boiled egg or a couple of slices of ham. It might look small but we do have to be careful not to overfeed kids.

1.5/4: (Sandwich included but not pictured) There’s too many salt and sugar-filled packaged items. Only one would be OK. There’s not healthy homebake, but the fruit is good.

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@ElissaDoherty